Microsoft has unveiled a rebuilt Windows 11 Search at its Windows and Surface event, and it can now change system settings straight from the taskbar. Windows chief Pavan Davuluri showed it on stage, and Microsoft says the box will handle thousands of quick actions typed as simple commands. Examples include "switch to dark mode", "turn on Bluetooth", "dim my screen", "mute", and "minimize all my windows". Microsoft says these are only the first batch, and Phone Link actions such as sending a text message from a connected phone are also planned.
The more interesting part for enthusiasts is probably under the hood. The new Search is built on WinUI 3, which Microsoft says makes it faster and lighter on system resources, and early testing apparently showed sizable gains in speed and memory use. The layout is now a single list of results, replacing the current design with its large preview pane. Search should also cope better with typos and synonyms, and richer file details and web previews are planned for later this year.
Copilot is part of it too, of course. Its answers show up inside Search, with a shortcut to open the full app. This follows the July cleanup that removed ads and promotional content from Search and added a setting to hide web and Microsoft Store suggestions. The new version started rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Experimental channel on October 7. Microsoft is targeting this fall for regular Windows 11 PCs, though there's no exact date yet.
Source: TechPowerUp News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing